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Victoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️

[thread] Federalist Society
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federali

* U.S. conservative/libertarian legal organization
* adv. textualist/originalist interpretation of U.S. Constitution
* 43/51 Trump appellate court nominees current/former members
* 5/9 SCOTUS justices current/former members
* co-chair Leonard Leo: fedsoc.org/board-of-directors

[thread] Leonard Leo
mastodon.social/@persagen/1131

persagen.org >> "leonard leo" AND "federalist society" AND "supreme court"

en.wikipedia.orgFederalist Society - Wikipedia

Leonard Leo’s Effort to Gut Planned Parenthood Threatens Myriad Health Services
Years-long campaign by anti-abortion activists
truthout.org/articles/leonard-

* Leo, anti-abortion Catholic, connected to key players
* case in fed. court in Amarillo where Matthew Kacsmaryk only judge
* Kacsmaryk: Federalist Society member (chair: Leo)

Texas, abortion
mastodon.social/@persagen/1106

Truthout · Leonard Leo’s Effort to Gut Planned Parenthood Threatens Myriad Health ServicesA lawsuit in Texas has a web of ties to Leo and builds on a years-long campaign by anti-abortion activists.

Diversity w.i. MIT's enrollment plummets
npr.org/2024/08/22/nx-s1-50864

* Black, Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islander students
* tied to 2023 U.S. Supreme Court banning affirmative action

Racial Bias Trends in U.S. Legal Opinions
mastodon.social/@persagen/1106

U.S. Supreme Court delivers setback to affirmative action in college admissions
mastodon.social/@persagen/1106

Federalist Society Wins 40-year War on Affirmative Action
mastodon.social/@persagen/1106

Turning Point USA Is Cultivating a Pipeline for Young, Right Wing Candidates
The organization seems to be adapting the Federalist Society playbook. Progressives say this is a dangerous development
truthout.org/articles/turning-

* Federalist Society pushed right-wing judges f. the local level to U.S. Supreme Court

[thread] Leonard Leo: mastodon.social/@persagen/1131

Truthout · Turning Point USA Is Cultivating a Pipeline for Young, Right Wing CandidatesThe organization seems to be adapting the Federalist Society playbook. Progressives say this is a dangerous development.
#GOP#Trumpism#MAGA

@persagen

All of these groups promoting conspiracy theories about the Federalist Society, as opposed to simply going through the reasoning in the opinions themselves, are really misleading the public, coming across as if they’ve never actually listened to any FedSoc content.

In reality, the Federalist Society is one of the most evenhanded outfits I know of, presenting both sides of debates, including pro-affirmative action speakers.

Seriously, go pull up their content and give their debates a listen. They are nothing like the evil right-wing monster so many are trying to frame them as.

@HistoPol

It’s just so funny to hear people talking about the right-wing conspiracy from the Federalist Society when I’ve spent years listening to their left-wing content.

The organization gives voice to so many speakers that are adamantly critical of the right wing. That’s in fact why I listen to them, because they call out the right-wing for being really off the rails.

So it comes across as gaslighting to someone like me.

Or more importantly, it comes across as taking advantage of people’s lack of familiarity to sell a sensationalized narrative while avoiding what’s really going on in the world.

@persagen

(1/n)

It is interesting of you to say so. To be fair, I have only ever read less than a handful of their content directly.

However, as a political commentator, I have been coming across them every other week. Always with a right-wing content. They have succeeded in hijacking 3 of the four federal institutions of government: the presidency, the , and most recently, the House of Representatives.

Let me therefore give you two more examples:
1) The...

@persagen

@volkris @persagen

(2/n)

...renowned historian , wrote about the :

"Today’s , packed as it has been 👉by right-wing money behind the Federalist Society and that society’s leader, Leonard Leo,👈 is taking upon itself power over the federal government and the state governments to recreate the world that existed before the ."

heathercoxrichardson.substack.

They are not even conservatives in the true sense of the meaning, they are...

Letters from an AmericanJune 30, 2023By Heather Cox Richardson

@volkris @persagen

(3/n)

....

2) They put the least left-wing presidential candidate of the last decades, , into the , including even the disastrous :

to , " is for a long list of reasons, of course, but near the 👉top of that list is the imprimatur the granted him. He almost certainly couldn't have gotten what he wanted without the Federalists. 👈And...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federali

en.wikipedia.orgFederalist Society - Wikipedia

@volkris @persagen

(4/n)

...they almost certainly couldn't have gotten what they wanted without him."

(Kruse, Michael (September 2018). "The Weekend at Yale That Changed American Politics". Politico. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2019.)

Irony of fate: is now owned by the notorious right-wing owner of Germany's biggest newspaper (aka tabloid) . (1)

So, in conclusion, while I do not doubt that you fid see this left-wing content...

@volkris @persagen

(5/n)

...for which they provided a platform, that was part of their right-wing communications strategy: .

They introduced obscure right-wing talking points like the (now debunked even by the ) () into the political discourse by (probably) having reputable progressive scholars to appear neutral.
Other than that, they probably were false-flag operations. This is quite likely,...

(1)
vanityfair.com/news/2021/10/th

Vanity Fair · The Inside Story of Axel Springer’s Cutthroat Deal to Buy PoliticoBy Joe Pompeo

@volkris @persagen

(6/n)

...as notorious General , a known specialist, is also in league with them:

fedsoc.org/events/clash-of-the.

Please note: "As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker."

And then look at the "neutral" moderator:

"Clark Neily, Vice President for Criminal Justice, 👉👈, one of the most notorious right-wing...

fedsoc.orgClash of the Titans: General Michael Flynn & Judge Emmett Sullivan - Does the DOJ have Unfettered Discretion to Dismiss the Flynn Prosecution?On June 4, 2020, the Miami Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society hosted an online event discussi...

@volkris @persagen

(8/n)

...challenging liberal or left-wing ideology within elite American law schools and universities. 👈"

i/: So, my advise would be to make sure when you listen to the "left-wing" speaker they invite (which might not be top-notch, due to the tainted image of the Society, btw), you then switch on your "content filter" to "high" when the right-wing propaganda representative takes the stage. /i

To be fair, they have been doing a marvelous job of indoctrinating...

@volkris @persagen

(9/n)

...people in the last 4 decades:

"...it has chapters at more than 200 law schools and features student, lawyer, and faculty divisions; the lawyers division comprises more than 70,000 practicing attorneys in ninety cities."

"It is one of the most influential legal organizations in the United States."

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federa

As you say, "...it comes across as taking advantage of people’s lack of familiarity to...

en.m.wikipedia.orgFederalist Society - Wikipedia

@volkris
@persagen

(10/10)

...sell a sensationalized narrative while avoiding what’s really going on in the world."

Yes, but not only "sensationalized," but "retrofitted" to their reactionary philosophy, trying to turn back time.

In my opinion, it is one of the most dangerous organizations of the US, en par in this respect with the NRA.

@HistoPol @volkris @persagen
100% agree

Even Fox "News" has lefty guests - and not to have a balanced, truth-seeking discussion.

Look which Federalists get the clerkships and judge's robes, it's the extreme right ones. Listen to the crickets from the FS as rights are destroyed. The Federalist Society's actions speak VERY loudly and clearly.

@TCatInReality

If you actually sit down and listen to Federalist Society output, they don’t have random lefty guests, they have full-throated criticisms of right-wing positions from serious people making serious points.

Again, this really comes across as gaslighting.

Obviously my years of hearing the Federalist Society giving megaphones to those who disassemble stupid right-wing positions, yeah I was mistaken the whole time.

It’s more important to promote the conspiracy theory than to appreciate the organization that spends so much time countering right-wing nonsense.

@HistoPol @persagen

@volkris @HistoPol @persagen
Well, as a student of the Federalist Society, it should be no trouble providing a sampling of Federalist judges who are known for their liberal/progressive decisions.

@TCatInReality

You do realize that the Federalist Society doesn’t appoint judges, right?

I mean you are really sort of begging the question here, buying into this conspiracy to ask what liberal/progressive judges the society has appointed when they don’t appoint judges in the first place.

Oftentimes I point out when people are looking at the wrong branch of government, but in this case you are pretty much even looking at the wrong branch of society.

And that’s not even getting into the tricky issue of, well maybe progressives are just plain wrong about the law. Which I would generally say is true, but a side issue.

If you want progressive policies implemented, well then work for the election of progressive congresspeople. It’s counterproductive to point fingers at some ill-advised right-wing conspiracy involving the courts when really this is an issue of the legislative branch.

@HistoPol @persagen

@volkris @HistoPol @persagen
You're wasting my time with bad faith arguments.

Pretending I said the FedSoc appoint judges is all the proof I need. You believe what you want. I'll believe the evidence of the outcomes.

Have a nice life.

@TCatInReality

I am absolutely positive that you will continue to believe in these conspiracy theories about The Federalist Society.

I am personally absolutely positive that it is futile to try to talk about what is actually happening in the world, to actually talk about how these conspiracy theories are nonsense.

So yeah, I will have a nice life, and you have a nice life too. As best as you can. Well you believe this nonsense about the vast right wing conspiracies that circle around the echo chambers that it sounds like you are involved in.

You do you.

@HistoPol @persagen

@volkris @TCatInReality @persagen

(1/2)

Wrong branch of government?

They are trying to capture all.

Nomination of Justices?--Did you read the 3 links I provided? One from the still reputable , and these two:

news.harvard.edu/gazette/story

web.archive.org/web/2019012920

I understand that it's hard to see organizations that one trusted for long time in a different light.

Take a look at this study, published only a few years after @scotus ruled that mass-laundering of ...

Harvard Gazette · The conservative club that came to dominate the Supreme CourtBy gazettebeckycoleman